U.S. military at risk of ‘losing next war’

A new Rand Corp. study warns the U.S. military is inadequately structured to combat threats from China, Russia and Islamic terrorism, according to the Washington Times.

The study, titled “U.S. Military Capabilities and Forces for a Dangerous World,” concludes the American military must reform its structure and war-fighting plans to better meet the challenges it faces.

“Put more starkly, assessments in this report will show that U.S. forces could, under plausible assumptions, lose the next war they are called upon to fight, despite the United States outspending China on military forces by a ratio of 2.7 to 1 and Russia by 6 to 1,” the report said. “The nation needs to do better than this.”

The report stated American forces are currently big enough to fight a single major war but have not kept pace with military advances by other global powers. They are “poorly postured to meet key challenges in Europe and East Asia, and insufficiently trained and ready to get the most operational utility from many of its active component units,” according to the report.

Rand suggested that instead of preparing the military to fight two regional wars in overlapping time frames, the military should focus on battling its five main present-day enemies: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and Islamic terror organizations.

The study recommended three scenarios: a force structure prepared to fight one major war against Russia or China; forces ready to fight one major war and one regional conflict against Iran or North Korea; or a force structure prepared for two major wars, which would require larger numbers of warships, fighter squadrons and combat brigades.